>> THE MODELIZER —Instead of walking in Yves Saint Laurent yesterday, Lily Donaldson took a seat front row — after the first look came out.  The brand's Fall face Naomi Campbell was also in attendance, and "hooted and hollered" when Chanel Iman appeared on the runway. [Teen Vogue]

*image: source

>> It's Paris Fashion Week, and those frustrations that were building on Model.Live in Milan finally come to a head — at least for Madeline Kragh.  Austria Alcantara seems to have given up — she gets a pep talk about confidence and then sent off to 12 castings; she aims to make 8 of them but ends up doing less: "The agency's going to kill me."  Cato van Ee says that she wouldn't model at Austria's age — she didn't want to give up her childhood — but then Cato is having plenty of success with her shows and has a visit from boyfriend Simon, while Austria seems all alone — no mother or agent in sight.

And then there's Madeline, who thought everything was going so well . . . Issey Miyake and Vivienne Westwood seemed within her reach . . . and then didn't come through: "Everybody's so sorry and they love me and they're happy I'm back in Paris, but everybody wants Cato."  Will everything even out?  Next week's Paris Fashion Week episode will tell.

The first thing that came to mind when we really gave these sack shorts a good look was that it gives women the same silhouette that the thinnest of runway models has when they are literally bow legged from thinness. Is this why these shorts are the next hot thing on the runway? We certainly hope not. So far, and that said, we are much bigger fans of this silhouette when applied to trousers but maybe the whole thing will grow on us. Or maybe it will just get too hot not to wear them. At left, a pair from the Yves Saint Laurent Spring 09 show (Style.com's Sarah Mower said of the shorts, "...the concept of a garment that happens to be joined between the knees--worn with button-up shirts or tailored jackets--had gained a degree of visual inevitability that might be a staging post on the way to normality.") and, if you should want them cheaper and faster but still with a name you can drop to the street style photographer, check out Rei Kawakubo's pair for mass retailer, H&M. 

>> MODA OPERANDI —Pending board approval, Alessandra Facchinetti, as rumored, is out at Valentino.  Contrary to rumors, however, her replacement will not be Giambattista Valli — although many thought his collection yesterday looked like a tryout for the job — but rather Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, the longtime accessories duo at Valentino.  Fachinetti is said to have clashed with management over design direction and production costs. [WWD]

There seems to be a direct correlation in fashion between an oversized garment and the stigma of being "cutting edge", that is, the greater the volume of your frock, coat, or trousers---the more fashionable you appear to be. This Spring collection from Bernhard Willhelm is no exception, but just what is the point? We can see New York's more artistic and fashionable wearing any number of these outrageously sized and boldly printed fashion sacks and being gazed at with approval. These are not examples of 'style' so much as they are examples of people saying 'I will wear this outrageous fashion sack because I want people to understand that I don't care about the same things they care about'. Bernhard Willhelm has always been a brand to satisfy those demands. Some might put Basso & Brooke or Tsumori Chisato in the same category but both of those collections, this season, we loved and this, for some reason, struck us as superfluous.

So Riccardo Tisci went for a little denim this season, and quite a bit of leather, turning his collection into a 'wild west' inspired one--our question is whether the fabrics he used might conveniently bring the price point down just a little bit, or the profit on each garment up. One might also entertain the opposite argument, which is that no matter how accessible are the fabrics he used (the highly acclaimed Fall 08 collection showed couture-like details--it was just the opposite) the overall feeling is not exactly recession-friendly in terms of personality. In the show, we saw his signature skinny leather pants and cool jackets. There were a few more darling pieces like an oversized cape, and some softer colors, like pale yellows and nudes. In between that we saw the typical, vaguely gothic, naughty uniform which really gave it the edge. Even if some critics didn't like it, we thought it was distinctly Givenchy and will likewise inspire a slew of trickle-down trends. Hipster labels like Robert Gellar are already thinking along the same lines.

Alessandra Facchinetti is leaving Valentino announces Women's Wear Daily mere hours after the Valentino Spring 2009 collection was shown, she will be suceeded by Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli the longtime accessories duo at Valentino.

This is the second time Alessandra Facchinetti has been succeeded by an accessories designer. She was succeeded at Gucci by its accessories director Frida Giannini.

In what has been called an East meets West, or Orientalism meets Modernism, themed collection Stefano Pilati seems to have done a fine job without making too many waves. Last season was quite the opposite and the trouser silhouettes, mop haircuts, gothic makeup, and glamorous fabrics all went on to determine a major segment of the Fall trends worldwide. This season, and there's nothing wrong with this, it just feels like classic, beautiful YSL. Yes, there is an East meets West dialogue but it's not breaking down any doors. Spring 2009 saw pretty silk blazers, drop crotch shorts, pleated trousers, and cocoon jackets which will undoubtedly satisfy the YSL woman without necessarily proliferating the entire market. Those shoes though...those shoes are another story.